Warning that Turkish military campaign will be met with "proper response," Mekdad said the Syrian air defense forces have completely recovered and are ready to destroy Turkish warplanes in Syria's airspace.

The new escalation comes as Turkey threatened to launch a military campaign in the Kurdish-controlled Afrin region in Syria's northern province of Aleppo.

"Afrin in particular as well as the northern and northeastern regions have always been and will always be Syrian territories," said Mekdad. Enditem